French voters defied their president's warning against becoming the "black sheep" of the European Union (EU) by rejecting the EU constitutional treaty in the May 29 referendum.  

The French "no" vote in the Sunday referendum on the EU constitutional treaty stood at 54.87 percent, French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin announced on late Sunday.

Although most of the opinion polls conducted ahead of the referendum predicted such an outcome, it is a heavy blow to France and Europe as a whole as leaders in France and other European nations were hardly ready for a point-blank French "no."

"The referendum result is a blow for the constitutional process," said German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. However, he added that it was not the end of the constitutional process and "the German-French partnership in and for Europe."

The rejection aroused disappointment and regret among French and European officials, such as French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero and former EU Commission President Romano Prodi.

European and French leaders insisted that the message sent by French voters should be listened. But what is to be heard behind the "no" vote?

Francois Hollande, the president of the Socialist Party (PS) and a major advocator of the "yes" camp, said the rejection of the treaty was a rejection of the government.

"The French expressed again on this occasion their anger and their exasperation toward a head of state, who not only failed to honor all his commitments, but also refused to hear the messages sent to him in previous elections, such as the regional elections in 2004," he said on national television.

Chirac defied public opinion by keeping his unpopular Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, but ordered a government reshuffle after his ruling party was defeated in regional elections in March 2004.

Shortly after the announcement of the referendum result, Philippe de Villiers and Jean-Marie Le Pen, two major leaders of the "no" camp, urged Chirac's resignation.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, Socialist opponent of the constitution, said Chirac should resign, while another Socialist opponent Henri Emmanuelli, the former speaker of the French National Assembly, believed the victory of the "no" camp was not "a vote of fear," but "a vote of hope."

Even in the "yes" camp, the voice for radical change is strong. Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the ruling party, the Union for a Popular Movement, was anxious to unveil his ambition for the French presidency by saying, "I'll try to find a way to get France out of the impasse where it is from now on."

"By saying 'no', the French are calling on us to act quickly and vigorously to change the status quo. They are putting pressure on us to bring to an end the inertia and the nervousness ... to move the country forward as fast as possible," he said on Sunday following the rejection.

"We need to decide on a program of action that is innovative, brave and ambitious. There has to be a major turnaround in our economic and social policy," said Sarkozy, Chirac's main rival for the 2007 presidential elections.

Chirac made unremitting efforts to persuade the French to vote "yes" to the constitution in the interests of both France and Europe after he announced the referendum in July last year.

With the rejection of the constitutional treaty, a government reshuffle seems most likely as the French president himself pledged that he would respond to the French people's concerns and expectations by giving another impetus to the government, hinting such a reshuffle.

Just as pointed out by a European ambassador, the rejection will seriously hurt the French president, for "the French diplomacy will lose at one blow all its credibility."

France, the founding father of the European Union as well as the constitutional treaty and one of the engines of Europe along with Germany, would be weakened on the international stage, he said.

On late Sunday, Luxembourg Prime Minister Juncker told reporters in Brussels that the ratification process must continue in the member states that have not yet voted on the treaty and stressed that it would be impossible to renegotiate the treaty.

The constitutional treaty, signed on October 29, 2004, and awaiting ratification by all the member states, is scheduled to enter into force on November 1, 2006, if it is ratified by all the 25 member states of the bloc.

(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2005)